Console vs PC

[Daddl 10]

Definitely. I'd much rather build a PC than buy overpriced console games and be forced to RMA some poorly designed console every few months.

Yes, M$ fucked up with their console design, mainly because they wanted to be first on the market to better compete with Sony, no matter what that meant for their product (common tactic employed by M$). No discussion there. Just buy a Playstation 3 or a Wii.

But then, look at the pc market: Steakslim describes his problems with cooling and bad ram, and I think everyone who is or has been into pc gaming knows all those endless driver issues and the general difficulty to keep an open multi-purpose computer platform tuned for gaming. With a console this isn't an issue, despite some hardware problems with one specific manufacturer. Also most X360 owners never saw the ring of death nor had they any other technical problems with their consoles - those that did got a free replacement.

I think there's a common mistake that people who like to build pc's have no life.

What I meant with 'having a life': way less time for gaming due to real life issues and changed priorities (job, family, ...). Once they 'have a life' most people's tolerance towards this kind of upgrade/tuning crap drops enormously. If I want to play a new game I don't want having to upgrade/tune my pc first, just because the hardware is more than a year old or beacuse I used it for coding/testing/installed all kind of crap/etc. - neither do I have the time for that, nor do I want to throw away good money I could spend on other things. I just want to insert the disk and start having fun. Edited April 27, 2009 by Daddl

[Placebo 28]

ok, so the next one won't overheat?

Actually the chances are usually less because the refurbs tended to have better cooling added.

What about PCs overheating? PCs being damaged due to amateur installation? PC owners being overcharged by stores for routine maintenance upgrade, plenty of pitfalls for PC owners.

[quicksand 0]

I've used to think I'd be a PC gamer for life,I've found the idea of playing with a game pad propostreus.I've been building up my own PCs since as far as I can remember with budget minded components that I upgrade every 3 years or so and it worked out great for me,since I'm also a music nerd/producer and like to enjoy the spoils of what good ram,fast harddrive and cpu can bring me.

But I like to keep myself informed and I was aware of the strides consoles have been making since PS1 days.The games are more complex,more adult oriented and less compromised like in the days PC games were crippled because they were XBOX ports.

Last summer a friend of mine borrowed his XBOX 360 with a copy of Mass Effect and thus my opinion would never be the same again regarding consoles.You can tout higher resolution,better anti aliasing and effects all you'd like,for me playing on a 52" full hd plasma from the comfort of my couch with a 5.1 sorround system such a beautifully executed game forever changed my mind about what I find an enjoyable experience.I don't know about you but my nervous system reacts better from bigger images from greater distances rather then higher resolution(Xbox 360 games are capped at 720p and a good PC can easily exceed that)

"Immersion" is the most important word in my gaming vocabulary and it appears the present favors consoles.I could buy a core i7 with a dual gpu card right now and sit on my ass waiting for games comming out 4-5 months later because they are delayed for PC or never comming out because they are console exclusives.We have Crysis that for all it's eye candy hasn't managed to leave an impression that compares to Mass Effect from last summer,so that's why I'm an XBOX 360 owner now.It's faults are many like the lack of possibility of making a FPS enjoyable,but since I'm an RPG/action adventure player a barely miss out on anything.

The next time I boot up my PC to play a game will be for Arma 2,for me that's an exclusive that entices the PC,not mindless eye candy fest like Crysis,that for all it's graphical prowess,it fails in art direction gameplay and other areas far more important for me.

[Yapab 10]

And surly that is exactly the setup you bought 3 years ago, right? No upgrades, anything? How much money did you spend at the time, how much did you pour into your pc since then?

Thats a good point, the PC and hardware was expensive as the Core2Duo CPU's just came out and the 8800GTX was the latest thing on the block, yes I 've had all those high end parts from the start.

In AUD dollars:

CPU - $255

RAM - $375~

8800GTX $824~

Since then I've upgraded with another HDD which is simply to store more data/games (a console would also have to upgrade HDD if they wanted to store more games).

I've also upgraded the ram with an extra 2GB, this actually cost me $20 AUD as it was from a friend, but the same ram speed new is just $44 atm.

Apart from that the PSU, MB, Fans and other accessories (sound card, dvd-drive) are all the same.

So overall it was expensive to start with but not over the top, and even today I can run most games maxed out with AA, at 22" resolution.

I have connected the PC to my Bravia and it plays at Full HD 1080p without problems, and if I drop to 720p it runs really fast :)

But I do understand your point about upgrading and cost.. like trying to keep up with the latest graphics cards etc. For PC gaming the GPU is the most costly thing, as most CPU's can keep up once the eye candy is turned up and the GPU is the limiting factor.

Lets talk about ARMA2. Now we have a new game coming out which I'm very excited about. I could play this game at 720p with medium-high graphics and would probably get a very playable 40+ or even higher fps... as a console would.

However because I have the need for the best graphics the game can offer me, and lots of AA... I will upgrade my GPU.

So like I said before, if you are contempt with running games at medium-high graphics settings and 720p (console resolution) then yes even a 3year old PC will run most games fine.

Those of us who want the best from the game and technology, will upgrade and pay to play :)

Yapa

[Yapab 10]

The next time I boot up my PC to play a game will be for Arma 2,for me that's an exclusive that entices the PC,not mindless eye candy fest like Crysis,that for all it's graphical prowess,it fails in art direction gameplay and other areas far more important for me.

Dont forget you can easily connect your PC to your Bravia and enjoy the game on your 5.1 system in the living room, you can also connect your XBOX controller to your PC too :)

Yapa